After The End Of The World
by Avonlea Sawyer
Summary: Lucas isn't sure what life means anymore. As if being captain isn't hard enough, findings on the ocean floor cause Lucas to look within, and he doesn't like the darkness he finds. **CHAPTER 2 UP NOW SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED.**
1. Frozen In Time

Frozen In Time  
  
"NAME:" the computer asked me, it's metallic voice pounding in my already aching head.  
  
"Wolenczak," I replied, massaging my temples counterclockwise. "Lucas."  
  
"STATION AND ACCESS CODE:" the computer droned on.  
  
Does anyone else want to beat this thing with a baseball bat? I thought to myself. "Captain," I continued, "Code 79-64-786-10005. SeaQuest DSV 2036." The door opens, and I grumble something under my breath about having Brody disable the damn security on my blasted office. As I suppose you can tell by now, I was not happy. I had just had the day from hell, and it wasn't even Oh-Nine-Hundred yet.  
  
Hold on, I've lost you. Let me start this with an explanation. My name is Lucas Wolenczak, and I am the new caption of the SeaQuest III. I was raised on this hunk of water rubbish. Not this one exactly, but pretty damn close. Up until over two years ago I had the best damn father figure in all the world. Captain Nathan Bridger. Now that man was a true blue soul. He knew everything, and knew how to handle it.  
  
But he disappeared on a routine check in the rainforest. Can you believe it? The man I watched wrestle an octopus barehanded, gone without a trace. Yeah, me neither. So, next thing I know, I'm sitting in the office of the Big Boss, listening to him say that I'm being promoted from my Ensign status. To Captain of the SeaQuest III, docked for sail in twelve hours, thirteen minutes.  
  
First thing that pops into my head, "Call up the crew listings." No problem. As long as they aren't complete retards, I can handle them. Here's where the kicker comes in. My crew consists of about ten hundred trainees, and several people I knew all too well.  
  
So here we are, out on this floating fortress together again.  
  
"Captain?" came Dr. Wendy Smith's sugar sweet voice from the barely open door. "I brought you something for the headache." Thankfully, Wendy is a telepath, and an empathy, so she's a great doctor. But at the moment I wasn't prepared for sugar sweetness.  
  
"Thanks. Leave," I growled, glaring at her. But Wendy isn't the type to up and leave you when you're showing signs of an ailment. She sat down on the couch on the side wall and began flipping through a magazine. "I'm sorry, when I say leave, it usually means GET OUT," I barked, angrily.  
  
Ignoring me, Wendy flipped another page. "Dagwood wants me to tell you that Darwin needs to get out of the Moon Pool," she replied as if I had said nothing.  
  
"Wendy!" I exclaimed. "I gave you a direct order, GET OUT!"  
  
A smile came over her red lips and she replied, "I don't have to follow your orders, I'm a civilian." I rolled my eyes.  
  
"Captain," O'Neill's voice beeped over the intercom. "I've located a radiation source about twenty clicks from here. Would you like me to adjust header?"  
  
I yawned. When Bridger was captain there wasn't a day we didn't see action. Whether it was having our energy depleted by a huge plant, or being abducted by aliens, life was always interesting. But now I could barely stay awake through the briefings. Scientific this, scientific that. Blah, blah, blah.  
  
But my reply came as it always did. "Yeah," I said, flipping on my computer. "Adjust speed. Get us there in an hour." O'Neill didn't say anything, but I knew what he was thinking. He thought I had gone crazy. No, not crazy, old man. Just tired.  
  
When I glanced back up, Wendy was still staring at me. "Seriously, Lucas," she said, her voice reminding me of old times, back when things were simple. "Are you all right?"  
  
Now Wendy was the closest thing to a mother that I had. She nursed me when I was sick, taught me things I didn't know, guided me through the rough times, and celebrated the good. Just hearing this wonderful lady ask me if I was all right may have been too much for me, if I had let it. Long before, after Bridger's disappearance I'd learned to mask my feelings, bury them from the world around me. Now Wendy was a different subject. You can't bury anything without her digging it up.  
  
I shook my head, and she knew that I didn't want to talk about it. She knew without asking. Today was the day. Three years even, Bridger had vanished. I didn't think about it before, when it happened. It actually wasn't until I saw her on the ship that the idea had sprung into my head. Wendy had fallen for Bridger the first day she met him, but their professional relationship wouldn't allow for anything else.  
  
Until SeaQuest DSV was abducted, and we all returned to Earth as civilians, they never did a single thing that would be considered misconduct. I hadn't really known about it, but shortly after I fell into the Naval Rescue Service, Bridger fell into Wendy.  
  
She joined my crew as Dr. Wendy Smith, a very pregnant Dr. Wendy Smith. What shocked me the most was when the baby was born she was named Jasmine Marie Bridger. Surprise, surprise. Smack me upside down and inside out.  
  
"Captain," came O'Neill's voice from the com, interrupting my thoughts for the second time. "We have the radiation anomaly in sight."  
  
I sighed, strangely exasperated, and replied, "On my way."  
  
The air tight doors opened to reveal the gleaming surfaces of the control room of SeaQuest II. I strolled in, and calmly plunked myself down in my chair, waving my hand dismissively. Ford took my indifference as an order and began lecturing. "There seems to be at least 400 years of coral covering the source." I nodded, trying my damndest not to yawn. "There's a life signature in there, still breathing, though slowly. Cryogenically frozen, maybe." Instantly I snapped awake. Obviously Ford saw it, and instantly replied, "It's not alien, sir," I stared at him. "It's human," he finished.  
  
Talk about a goddamn wake up call. Everyone jumped into motion. I sent out so many construction crews that the ocean looked like it was polluted with Naval Issued Water Suits. Piccolo, my submergible human torpedo left with Darwin to scout the terrain, try to figure out what the hell had happened. But Wendy and I sat in the SENSE room as she listened for the human's brain activity, while I pondered life.  
  
Now, have you ever once sat and pondered life? I mean really pondered it. I had this great life way back when. I have a wife, I had a house, I was even about to become a father. My wife had decorated our house like one of those old style Victorians, with the deep reds and dark blues. We had a picket fence and a tire swing in the front yard. I'd fallen for her the moment I saw her, Kana Laredo. Dark hair, blue eyes, perfect. Suddenly my entire life made sense. We'd been married just before Bridger's disappearance, at nineteen. On her twentieth birthday I surprised her with a house all for her. On my twentieth birthday she handed me the keys to a new car. On Christmas of our twentieth year, she died giving birth to my son.  
  
You wanna talk hell? I moved from my perfect Victorian house to a dirty little apartment in the Shadow Valley of World Industries Nuclear Plant 7. I was working two or three missions a year, getting paid 170,000 a pop, and I didn't care about the world at all. Until I walked onto SeaQuest II I'd thought I'd died.  
  
"Holy shit!" Wendy exclaimed, falling off the couch.  
  
Instantly I was by her side. "Don't do that to me!" she screamed, glaring at me. I was startled. I swear I had my walls up. "Jesus, I try not to think of that! How could you?" Widening my eyes I must have looked confused. "You were thinking of Nathan and me," Wendy replied.  
  
"No," I replied, "I wasn't. I was thinking about Kana." Wendy's eyes widened.  
  
Seconds later, Fords voice bleeped over the com, distorted from the water swooshing around his head. "Captain, we have the pod, and you won't believe this."  
  
I didn't hear the last words of the transmission because Wendy started screaming at the top of her lungs, clutching her ear, eyes squinted shut. I tried my hardest to keep her quiet, but she wouldn't stop screaming! Finally, she passed out from exhaustion, and as I was carrying her to sick bay, I heard Ford's voice clearly from a com inside the ship.  
  
"Captain, get to sick bay. Now."  
  
A huge metallic pod lay on a table when I carried Wendy in. Laying her on a table for one of the nurses to inspect, I made my way over to talk to Ford. He and O'Neill were staring at the case wide-eyed. "What is it?' I asked, stepping up beside them. The sight made my heart all but stop. The pod before me was Galaxy-class, circa 2034. "It's been down there for how long?" I asked, staring at the fogged glass.  
  
"Four hundred years, at least," O'Neill replied.  
  
"Pop it open." I said, unsure of what to do. Ford stared at me. "Come on, Jonathan. Where's your sense of adventure?"  
  
He scowled at me, then growled, "It died with Bridger."  
  
Now, if a captain were allowed to strike a member of his crew I would have laid Jonathan out right there, and he knew it too. My eyes got wider and I clenched my fist. Then he went to access the opening mechanism. Damn straight, I thought, glaring at him, better do as I say before I backhand you. As I said, it wasn't a good day.  
  
Ha, I thought it wasn't a good day then. When he popped that sucker open I got the surprise of my life. Lying nestled in a nice cold cryogenic bed was the one thing I swore I would never see. Captain Nathan Bridger, frozen in time. Buried under four hundred years of coral, and still alive. That was about the time Wendy woke of and started screaming again. 


	2. Wheel Thrown Destinies

Wheel Thrown Destinies  
  
If someone had asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life when I was five years old I would've said I wanted to be captain of a submergible vessel. Now that I'm twenty-two, and captain of the SeaQuest III, I'd like to change my career choice. I bet some of you are wondering how sweet little Ensign Wolenczak became Captain Lucas Wolenczak without actually doing jack. Interesting, because that's exactly what Bridger asked me when he came too. Of course, Nathan Bridger was never one to simply ask a question. No, he DEMANDED to know, which involved a lot of yelling.  
  
"How in hell's name could an ensign go from ensign to captain simply because I disappeared?" he screamed, staring at me.  
  
I didn't want to answer, I didn't want to think about how I had climbed the ladder so quickly. The things I did I will never be proud of. But Bridger's stare did the same thing to me now as it did when I was twelve years old. "I worked as ASA for a year and a half after Kana's death," I replied. Bridger's jaw dropped.  
  
"How many people, Lucas?" Bridger whispered, his voice wavering for the first time since I could remember.  
  
My eyes shut tight. No, no, no, I thought, trying to banish the sight from the corners of my mind. Anything but that! "One hundred forty nine," I replied, grimacing. The number made me want to retch.  
  
"You made Captain off of being an ASA?" Bridger asked, his eyes downcast and unsure. I nodded. "Why'd you do it?" he finished.  
  
I didn't want to answer that, I couldn't answer it. I didn't know the answer to a question like that. I just sat there, in silence, thanking every god I could think of that Bridger wasn't a telepath. "Give me a break, Bridger," I replied, rather angry. "You vanished, my wife died, then I pick the only job where I don't have to deal with anyone. Then, you show up three years later, cryogenically frozen, and lecture me. I don't have time for this," I snapped. Instantly, I was sorry that I did.  
  
As I said before, Bridger is the closest thing to a father that I've ever had, and I know, in reality, he's concerned. But doesn't he think that I feel bad enough about the ASA thing. He doesn't have to rub it in. "Look, Lucas," he began, in that same fatherly tone of voice. "I'm just trying to come to grips with the fact that the man I call my son was an ASA. Nothing could've prepared me for that. You were so kind as a child, you wouldn't even hurt an animal. Now I find out that you." he trailed off. Of course he trailed off, I couldn't even say it, and I did it, for $170,000 a pop.  
  
"Captain," Ford's voice bleeped over the com. "Admiral Key would like to speak with you. he says it's confidential."  
  
I snorted, "Bullshit, it's about Bridger and you know it." Ford didn't answer. "Patch him through, and next time, I'm in Maui." The screen before me blinked on. "Yeah?" I said, sarcastically. The way I figured it, the worst they could do was kill me, right?  
  
Admiral Key was the most pompous, stuck up bastard I'd ever known, next to myself, of course. "Wolenczak," he started, I rolled my eyes. "I hear you found something interesting today."  
  
Bridger stepped into the picture. "Admiral?" he asked, staring at the man. Key's face blanched. "Just imagine what I would've been."  
  
"We thought you were dead, Nathan," Key stammered.  
  
Bridger glanced to me. "I got that," he responded. "I wake up, my tutelage is an Admiral, the boy I raised as my son is a Captain, and I have a bloody daughter! What the hell happened there?" Bridger demanded. Key looked at him like he was nuts. "One minute I'm hanging from a bungee cord up a tree over the Amazon, next thing I know I'm waking up on the SeaQuest. What happened?"  
  
"We lost you." Key replied, glancing at me. "When we finally located you we had to freeze you in order to bring the disease into remission. When Mr. Wolenczak found you was exactly when we intended you to be found."  
  
I looked at Bridger, who looked at me, then we both looked to Key. "You're fired," we both said, in unison.  
  
Imagine the worst thing you can think of. Now imagine twenty time worse then that. That's what I did. I used to be part of a secret service called the ASA, and no, I don't want to tell you what it stands for. Now, imagine looking into your parents eyes and telling them that you betrayed the human race. That's what I had to do with Bridger. Nothing could've prepared me for the battle I had fallen into.  
  
When Kana had died I thought of nothing but relieving the pain in my heart. The first thing that offered an escape was the ASA. I did everything they asked me too, and willingly. I never thought that the past would come back to haunt me. Sitting in front of Nathan Bridger, however, made me doubt myself greatly.  
  
"Explain this to me one more time," he said for the third time in an hour.  
  
I sighed, no sense in raising my voice to the man. "Kana was in labor for fifty six hours when Thaniel was born. She died shortly after, and Thaniel went to Kana's mother. I went to work for the ASA and rarely saw him. When I got assigned here I tried to get him but I couldn't find his grandmother. End of story, boo hoo, go back to living."  
  
Sure I was sarcastic. Sure, I was sardonic. Sure I hated everything about life, and everything involving me. But I was fine. I was free. I hadn't a care in the world... With the exception of my conscience.  
  
Nathan, however, saw right through me almost as well as Wendy. "Lucas," he began in that fatherly voice.  
  
Note to self: Strangle Bridger. I thought, glaring at him. I waited a minute for him to continue. When he didn't I replied, "Was that the I know how you feel Lucas, or the You're not alone Lucas. Because I'm a little rusty on how to read you." I didn't mean to snap. Okay, maybe I did, but what right did he have?  
  
"Lucas, I know you're feeling lonely... But I'm trying to figure out how in God's name did the sweetest, most gentle boy I know become ASA," Bridger continued.  
  
I rolled my eyes. I had an answer. But I didn't have the balls to say it. Finally I replied, "Something's happen for a reason. Something's happen for chance. And something's happen because of the way you live. In reality it's all wheel thrown. You never know what it's gonna land on. Mine just happened to land on ASA. Get over it."  
  
"Just tell me why you did it..."Bridger begged me, his eyes filled with a thousand years.  
  
Without my permission my mind clouded with memories of him leaned over my bed, the smile on his face when he caught me doing something he'd done as a child. I suddenly had a flash of the first time he tried to explain kissing, even though I didn't really need that chat. I saw his face the day I told him I'd met the woman I would marry. I even remembered the day he'd called me his son.  
  
Now not much in my world happens without my permission. And when I'm having a bad day I'll throw you in the brig for looking cross eyed. But something in me changed in those few seconds of flashbacks. I turned to the wall and stared hard at the surface.  
  
When I turned back my hands were shaking and my vision blurred. "Leave me alone, Bridger. Let me burn in hell alone."  
  
"You said it, Lucas," Bridger said to me. "Wheel thrown destinies can really mess with eternity." 


	3. Truths

Truths  
  
  
  
Have you ever found yourself staring into space, wishing for something other than what you have? Good for you, you're one step ahead of me. I've never wished for anything, not that I remember, anyway. Now, I sat in my quarters, wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I actually felt sick to my stomach... and I wasn't even thinkinhg about her. Maybe I did have a conscience, maybe I really did feel bad about what I did. Nah, couldn't be, could it.  
  
"Lucas?" Wendy's voice came from behind me, she stood in my doorway. "Do you want to talk about it?" she continued, watching me in her motherly way. I almost shivered. I hated when she treated me as a child. I was only a few years younger than her.  
  
"Go away," I said, even though I knew it never worked.  
  
For a minute I thought she really had left, until, "Lucas, he's really concerned. He thinks you've gone nuts."  
  
Damn it, I thought. Aloud, I replied, "Listen, Wendy, I don't need to explain to Nathan Bridger why I went ASA. He's not God. And as far as I can see, what I did is between me and God himself."  
  
"He might as well be God," Wendy replied, "No one could love you more."  
  
That was the one that hit the nerve, that was the one that sent me over the edge. "No," I screamed, leaping from my chair and swinging around to glare at her. "Kana loved me more! Do you understand me! I had a perfect little life, and suddenly I didn't! So I did the only thing I could. I joined the most elite crew in all the world. My wife died, left me alone, without anything but a child I couldn't raise. Bridger could never love me the way she did! No one could." I don't know how long I'd been holding it in, but suddenly I felt three hundred times better, just by saying that.  
  
That's when I realized I had let down my walls, I had bombarded Wendy with every image in my skull. Shit.  
  
She fell, collapsing into a heap on the floorboards, gasping and crying all at once. She saw it all. Damn it! I smacked my combadge and screamed, "Doctor Smith is down. Send a crew." Don't ask me how long I sat there, it couldn't have been more then a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime.  
  
Bridger stood next to me outside of sick bay, his hands clenched and unsure. I was new at this whole Captain thing, so I kinda left him shout the orders this once.  
  
"Nathan," I muttered from the ground where I had sunk about an hour into the wait. I don't know whether or not he turned to look at me, but I continued. "For what it's worth I'm sorry I did it," I continued, staring at my hands, almost as if I'd see the damage. He didn't speak. "I wanted to find some way to spend my life away from people. That was the first thing offered to me." Still, he didn't speak, stayed silent, almost passive. Hell I didn't even know if he was listening, but at least I was talking about it, right? "I was just about to call it quits, finish myself off, when I got the call to come be Captain. Maybe I thought I was getting a second chance. Maybe I thought that this would get me on good terms with God again. Maybe I just thought that I could be like you were."  
  
Finally, I looked up at him. He was leaned against the opposite wall, squatted down, his hands resting on his knees. He looked almost stone, except for the tears streaming down his cheeks. "Look, Nathan," I tried again.  
  
"No," he interrupted. "I never should have judged you the way I did. It's not my place. You did what was asked of you, and you did it without protesting. You were working for money, nothing more. I mean, it's not like you enjoyed it. Why should I judge the child I love most?"  
  
Well, hell. If there was a single moment in all my life where I should have cried it would have been there. Didn't I mention before that I shut off my emotions? Well, I lied. I couldn't do it with him. I couldn't just say screw it. I felt tears begin to fall, and I refrained from pushing them away. If Bridger could cry, then so could I.  
  
Nevermind, I had to wipe them away. Instant response. So we sat in the hallway, completely silent. Revelling in our own thoughts.  
  
Laying in my bed I thought to myself. What would life be like now? Maybe I would be removed from SeaQuest. Maybe Bridger would take over. Nah, he'd probably jump back down the ranks to Lieutenant or something. He'd want to be with Wendy anyway. So that left me alone, again. Somehow, in the years since Kana died I'd gotten used to being alone. Sleeping alone. Eating alone. Just being alone. Suddenly, I wanted something else. How old would Thaniel be now? Five? Yeah, five. No, what was I thinking? I couldn't raise a son alone.  
  
Wait. Was I alone? Here I was, captain aboard a huge submersible vessel, with dozens of children already on it. Why not? Because Pardana would never let me take Thaniel from her custody, thats why. Or would she. Almost instantly, I banished the idea from my head. There was no way to pull it off. Was there? No... I kept repeating to myself. There wasn't.  
  
But have you ever had an idea in your head that just wouldn't go away. Suddenly I wanted to know my son. Suddenly I wanted to know if he had Kana's eyes, her nose, her ears. Suddenly I wanted to show him how to drive a boat, how to hold onto a dolphin's fins, how to kill man-eating, radioactive plants and fungi. It would never happen. I"d given him up, and Pardana would never let me see him again.  
  
The next day promised to be hell, but which ones didn't. I walked into my office, laughing at the fact that Brody had unarmed the alarm. Haha, no more stupid passcode. Instantly I regretted it. Bridger sat on my couch, leafing through a magazine. "What does a man have to do for some privacy around here," I growled, plunking myself down in my chair.  
  
"Activate his security passcode," Bridger replied, a smirk on his face. I glared at him. "I get it, no joking around Wolenczak," he gaffwed. I glared hardered, I wasn't in the mood. Hell, was I ever? "Fine," Bridger replied, "I was just sent to inform you that a Mr. Stone from Stone, Jerson, and Kyle called for you. Ford tried to get a hold of you, but you were in the shower. You're supposed to call him back."  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Sounds like a bunch of lawyers," I replied.  
  
"It is," Bridger retorted, leaning back.  
  
Even more put out, I snapped, "Well, aren't you going to leave me to my call?"  
  
"Not really," Bridger continued, leafing through the magazine.  
  
Feeling more like a hamster then a captain I reached for the dialer and typed in the number on it. Instantly I was connected. "Captain Wolenczak," a man said, his suit a very ugly brown. "I am Walter Stone, and I represent Mrs. Pardana Laredo." I suddenly got a creepy feeling in my gut. "It is my unpleasent job to inform you that Mrs. Laredo passed away last week from inflamation of the lungs." This wasn't good. What did they want from me? Money? Give it to them, I didn't need it. "In her last will and testament, she proclaims you as her last living relative. How did you know the deceased?"  
  
For some reason I was choked up. Come on, Wolenczak, answer the man. "I was her son-in-law," I replied, shaking from head to toe.  
  
"Then the boy in question, Nathaniel Wolenczak, is your son?" he asked. I nodded, unsure of what he was getting at. "It says here that you worked as an assassin for four and a half years. Is this true?" he asked. My heart screamed. I heard Bridger behind me, his breathing grew heavier. No one had said it in such plain terms. ASA about explained it, no need for bluntness. Numbly, I nodded. "And this line of work is finished? You are now a captain aboard the SeaQuest III?"  
  
For some reason I felt a smart ass comment was nessacery. "That's where you called me, genius," I snapped, angrier then I thought possible. How dare he say that shit to me!  
  
I guess he chose to ignore my rudeness, because he continued, "Mrs. Laredo asked that you be granted full custody of the child in question, and that he be sent to the SeaQuest III immediately upon your approval. Is this ownership accepted?"  
  
What? Accepted? "Last I checked, children were not owned, they were raised," I responded, glaring at him.  
  
"I take that as an approval?" he continued, almost as if he hadn't heard the condescending tone in my voice.  
  
"What the hell am I going to say, no? Send the boy asap. I'll be waiting," I growled.  
  
The screen blinked out. What the hell just happened? I had just become a father to Thaniel. Shit, where was I going to put him? Wait a second, I had an entire boat! Well, shit. Time for a bedroom search. 


	4. A Challenge

Blood Bonds

Now don't ask me what I was expecting to step off the vessel that brought my son to me. I guess I was expecting a younger me. A little blonde kid with glasses, carrying a handheld computer two sizes too big for him, a backpack slung over his shoulder and a slightly frightened look on his face. But when Thaniel Wolenczak stepped from that air lock I felt my eyes pop from their sockets. He looked exactly like a complete punk. He had Kana's dark hair, carved into a tussled Mohawk. His bright green eyes, also Kana's, were intense and angry, and he looked exactly like me in every other way. Beside me, Nathan all but deflated.

"Thaniel," I began, reaching out robotically. _What the hell was I going to say?_ "I'm your father, Lucas," I finished lamely. I saw Nathan's eyes narrow at me, I shrugged.

The boy looked me up and down, almost like he was sizing me up, then replied, "I know who you are." I saw Wendy's eyes widen at the contempt in his voice. I was shocked, why would he be angry with me?

That's when it hit me. What had my father done to me when I was a child? He'd sent me to Nathan Bridger aboard the SeaQuest DSV, and hadn't tried to get a hold of me for years. How had I felt about him? I hated the bastard for not wanting me. It was only now that I realized I'd done the same thing to my son.

"Look, Thaniel," I said, bending down to his eye level, "When your Mommy died I-"

The boy actually cut me off with, "Save it. I'm not interested in the pity relief. Telling me this might make you feel better, but I don't care. Where's my room, I want to make a call." My eyes snapped to Bridger, who shrugged, a slight smile on his face. The jerk was reveling in my discomfort.

So much of me wanted to smack the boy, tell him that I was his father and he was to respect me. But what would I have done if my father had said that to me? I would have laughed my ass off at him, and walked away, or hit him just as hard… "Dr. Smith with take you to your room, and when you're ready she will bring you up to the bridge to see me," I said, motioning to Wendy.

"Don't hold your breath," he muttered, following her.

Astounded, I turned to stare at Bridger, my mouth wide open. "What the hell was that?" I demanded, pointing after my son's retreating figure.

The smile grew wider as Bridger replied, "Why, Lucas, it's you!" Ford and O'Neill started laughing. I swear, if I could hit one of my crew members, I would have.

I was sitting in my office, leaning on my elbows when the door slid open. There stood Thaniel, his dark hair mussed from running. "Look," he said, striding into the room, "Gram explained what happened to you after my mom died. You went crazy, and I don't care." He stomped up to my desk, and leaned against it. "Gram told me everything about you, Lucas. About the ASA and the things you did to get away. I don't hate you for that," he leveled his eyes at me. How could a six year old actually talk like that? "I hate you because you left me. I hate you because I can't hate my mom."

I stared back at him as he stood there, unmoving, waiting for me to argue. "I can respect that," I replied, thinking back on how I would have spoken to my father if given the chance. "But right now you are on my ship, and I am captain. You don't have to respect me as a father, but as of this moment you are a member of my crew. You will take orders from me," he rolled his eyes. I continued, "And I will respect that you hate me."

"Fine," Thaniel replied coolly. "Do you have any orders for me right now, Captain?" he asked.

"Stay out of trouble," I replied, turning back to my computer. "And go about your own business." I knew that if he asked the right questions of the right people, he might gain some insight into how similar we really were.

He saluted in an adorable, six-year-old way then turned and left the room. Alone once again, I reached over and typed in Bridger's private com number. "Bridger," he said calmly.

"Yeah, it's me. Can you come to my office?" I asked.

"Sure," he replied. "Be there in a few."

I had reached a point where I knew that asking for help would be the best thing for me. I had gone six years without help, and now I needed to suck it up. Losing Bridger then Kana had nearly killed me, but now I needed to solve my problem with Thaniel, before I became my father.

A few moments later the door slid back open and Bridger stepped inside. "What's up, Lucas?" he asked, plopping down in a seat in front of the desk.

"My son is obnoxious, annoying and snotty," I replied.

A smirk covered Bridger's face as he said, "So… He's you?"

"I wasn't that nasty, was I?"

"Geez," Bridger replied, "You were a terror. You were sullen, angry, bitter and I can never forget how you responded to me the first day. You basically told me that you didn't care who I was or what I wanted. You had no desire to be here, and you weren't going to listen."

I stared at him. That was exactly what Thaniel had just said to me. I thought back to how much I hated coming to SeaQuest, and how much I had hated Bridger for trying to be my friend.

"What did you do? How did you handle me?" I asked, leaning back and racking my brain.

Bridger half-smiled again and replied, "I introduced you to Darwin."

"No you didn't," I retorted. "Darwin came swimming by my room and I was hooked. I followed him all the way to the Moon Pool." Bridger grinned and nodded. "You didn't send him…" Then the penny dropped. "Holy crap, Nathan! And all this time I though Darwin came to me out through fate."

He glanced to me, his eyes laughing silently. "Really, Lucas? All this time I thought that's what brought you to me."

Bridger suggested that I get Thaniel to meet Darwin, but swimming by his room would be impossible, since the tubes that Darwin used had been covered and could only be opened by the occupants of the room. It saved a lot of people embarrassment with Piccolo swimming through the tubes to repair parts of the ship. Somehow I had to get Thaniel to the Moon Pool.

"Thaniel Wolenczak, report to the bridge," Ford said over the loudspeaker.

I sat in my captain's chair, observing the bridge in general while Ford and Brody argued over the cricket game from the night before. When these two hardheaded sailors picked up cricket, I'll never guess. The door to the bridge slid open and Thaniel came strolling in, his hair tussled and spiky, and he looked the part of a gang member in his torn sleeves and baggy jeans. "What's up, Captain?" he growled in a half-menacing kind of way.

For a moment I found myself wondering how much of this six-year-old was hidden away under his façade. "First of all, when entering the bridge you stop to salute and say _Ensign Wolenczak reporting for duty, sir,_" I replied, repeating Bridger's own words from all those years ago.

And without missing a beat, Thaniel delivered my own response. "I would, but I'm not an ensign." Behind me, Ford chuckled. He had been there that day all those years ago. Surely I was caught in some wicked time loop.

"You're absolutely right," I replied, a half smile in place, "You are, however, under my command. And while you will not be reporting for any kind of duty, you do report to me. So coming onto the bridge in this manner of dress is completely inappropriate. In this room, you will conduct yourself in the manner befitting the son of a captain." Thaniel opened his mouth to make a retort. "Regardless of whether you wish to be the son of said captain. This is a place of business, young man, and it will be treated as such."

"Yes, sir," Thaniel replied, straightening up slightly.

I nodded. "Good," I said, "Now on to business. Do you know how to swim?"

Thaniel glanced around at the people in the room, gauging the relevance of the question. No one was looking boldly at him, keeping the majority of their focus on their tasks.

Finally, he answered, "A bit, sir, but only as much as I could learn in a few weeks. Gran thought that it wasn't suiting for a boy my age and pulled me from lessons."

"Hmm," I said, stroking my chin. "Ford," I turned to my Number Two and said, "Contact Piccolo and have him meet Thaniel in the Moon Pool for a swimming lesson."

"Yes, sir," Ford replied, turning to his controller.

I turned back to Thaniel and rose to my feet. In my hand I held a small, individual comlink. "This is for you. It's comlink. You can contact anyone in the ship with it, just tap it once to turn it on, say their name and they will reply. Tap it twice to turn it off." Thaniel nodded and accepted the comlink. "Ok. To get to the Moon Pool you want to go out that way, take a left, follow it for three airlocks and then take a right. It's down two floors in the center of the ship."

"Is this an order, Captain?" Thaniel asked boldly, his eyes glinting.

"Think of it as a mandatory request," I retorted glaring back at him.

He turned on his heel and pushed out, following the path that I gave him. As the doors to the bridge slid shut, Ford said, "Don't you think that these games are a bit juvenile?"

"He's only six, Jonathan," I replied.

Ford cut his eyes to me. "I meant for you…"

"Ah, shut up, Commander."

"Yes, sir."

About an hour later I ventured down to the Moon Pool. Sitting on the side panel was Thaniel, talking to Darwin. "I bet it sure is fun living in the ocean like you do," Thaniel was saying. "Swimming all you want."

_Darwin don't swim in ocean. Darwin stay in ship._ The automated voice of my oldest friend chimed.

"But why?" Thaniel asked, looking around. "Wouldn't you much rather stay in the ocean?"

_Darwin like ocean._ The dolphin replied. _But Darwin home is here with friends._

Just as it always did when Darwin spoke of home, my heart jumped a little. This dolphin was the closest thing to family I had known in quite awhile.

"I wish I could go home," Thaniel muttered into the water.

_This home now. Lots of good people here. Dagwood take good care of Darwin and Thaniel. Piccolo teach Thaniel to swim with Darwin. Lucas help Thaniel be happy on ship. Lucas good captain. Good friend._

"Lucas is not my friend," Thaniel declared. "He's selfish and mean. He doesn't understand family."

_Thaniel wrong._ Darwin said quite simply. _Lucas is best friend. Lucas have good, kind heart. Lucas sad because he loved too much. Lucas need love now._ I felt tears spark in my eyes as my friend talked of me. It was amazing just how much this dolphin got from me rambling to him. _Lucas broken when he came back home. But Lucas getting better. Thaniel get better too. Thaniel don't need be broken._

Thaniel was silent for a long minute, mulling over his thoughts, I guess. Finally, he lifted his shaggy, wet head and said, "You know, Darwin, Lucas is my dad."

Darwin splashed him playfully. _Darwin know. Thaniel act like Lucas._

I turned and left my son and my friend to play.


End file.
